Aston Villa defender Nathan Baker has put the club’s successful start to the season down to the added experience and competition in the squad.

After a lacklustre 15th-place Premier League finish last season, manager Paul Lambert made a point of targeting proven veterans during the summer window, with new signings Philippe Senderos, Kieran Richardson and Aly Cissokho proving crucial to the side which currently sits second in the table with 10 points from their opening four games.

Coming off a 1-0 win away to Liverpool, attention now turns to Saturday’s home game against Arsenal, and Baker believes the team are more than capable of pulling off another upset given their current confidence levels.

Baker made his first league start of the season against Liverpool, earning rave reviews for his assured performance, and Lambert was delighted to see the centre-back impress after a disappointing 2013-14 campaign.

Freddie Shires

Freddie is a freelance sports writer, having recently completed an MA in Sports Journalism at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham. With an especially keen interest in all things American sports-related, he has written extensively about the NFL, MLS and the U.S. national team for various sites.